Microsoft Power BI Reviews

Power BI is more powerful than other tools because it is new for us. Each new version has more capabilities, and we're expecting AI and ML features in the next version.

Power BI's administration could use some work, and the user experience needs to improve because it is a client-based tool. If you want to generate a model or report, you need to use client tools, but client tools are limited for end-users who don't have enough hardware. For example, maybe a client lacks enough memory or CPU power for report generators. If you use a model that requires a massive amount of data, your client will face several problems.

We are using an embedded BI because we are using it to report a portal, and this portal includes some screens that come from Power BI, so the embedded BI needs to improve. It would also be helpful if Microsoft made AI and ML capabilities available for private cloud users.

We have been using Power BI for about one year.

Power BI is stable. 

Power BI has limited scalability. The modeling area needs to improve in this regard. 

We have a limited license, but if we use more time or have more reports, usage, and concurrency, then the license cost will go up.

I rate Microsoft BI eight out of 10. 

We primarily use the solution internally and also on our websites.

The interface is great.

The DAX function center and integration with Asia have been great. 

It's a powerful platform.

The product is robust and stable. 

You do not have to maintain the product. It's very low-maintenance.

Technical support is helpful. 

I can't speak to any missing features. It has everything we need.

The reporting could be a bit better. It would be nice if there was just a bit more flexibility.

The solution is stable and reliable. The performance is good. It's not a product that crashes or freezes. There aren't bugs or glitches to deal with.

It's robust.

We've never attempted to scale. I'm not sure what the process is like. I can't speak to if it's easy or difficult to do.

We have five people in our department that directly use Microsoft BI. They are professors. 

While it is currently being used extensively, I cannot say that we have plans to increase usage. 

We've been in touch with technical support in the past. They've always been good and we are quite happy with the level of support that they offer us.

I have experience with IBM Cognos products before Power BI. It's very difficult to compare products as there are so many different functional, decent products.

I didn't handle the deployment process. I can't speak to what the deployment was like. 

The is no maintenance required. 

I'm not sure if we used consultants or integrators. I cannot recall what the process was like. 

I can't speak to the licensing. I don't have any information related to the exact costs.

We have looked at, for example, Tableau and QlikUp. At the moment, Power BI just seems to fit our needs the best.

We are just a customer and an end-user.

I'd advise people to use it, know their needs and understand what they want. Do the personal work well and make sure that Power BI is the right suite for your needs. It's important to do some research before jumping in. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

The product can be used to get all business insights from connected data, for example, whatever is on our system, which we are using for our business solutions. 

All the data can be connected and it can give you actionable insights.

There are also some AI capabilities.

The solution is very stable.

The scalability overall has been quite good.

We found the initial installation to be very straightforward.

The admin view could be improved by making it more simplified to manage a users' activity and other things. That would be quite helpful.

It could be more user-friendly in general.

I've been using the solution for three years at this point. It's been a while. 

The stability is great. There aren't issues around bugs or glitches. It doesn't freeze. I haven't experienced a crash. It's reliable. 

The scalability has been good. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. 

Right now, we have 200 people using the solution.

I've dealt with technical support in the past. It's okay. I don't have any complaints at all. 

Before we had this solution, we used some internal software development using normal SQLs and JavaScripts. We also take advantage of our SQL Server. 

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. It's not a complex process. A company shouldn't face any issues handling it. 

We only needed two people to handle the deployment and maintenance aspects of the product. It's one manager and one developer.

We deal with both monthly and yearly licenses, which are coming due soon.

As it is cloud-based, this solution is always providing us with the latest version to use. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We're mostly quite happy with its capabilities. 

I would recommend the solution to other users and organizations. 

It integrates better with other Microsoft products. It is very easy to use and has very powerful visualizations. It has also got a lot of development going on. 

It should have more integrations.

I have been using this solution for probably two years.

It is stable.

It is scalable. I have a few large customers of this solution.

I don't have any experience with their support.

I also use Tableau. Tableau and Power BI are similar in terms of capability.

It was easy. It was done in minutes.

I can do it on my own. You would require external consultants or in-house experts.

Licensing is on a monthly basis, but I am not sure.

I would rate Microsoft BI a nine out of ten.

Our primary use cases for this product are monitoring and reporting. I have some dashboards for the sales department and a little bit for operations. I'm going to create a new dashboard for marketing. 

What I like about Power BI compared to Tableau, for example, is that Tableau is mostly a visualization program, but Power BI is a more complete solution, because it has DAX, Power Query, and a presentation and graphic layer. So, I use it not only for reporting and graphic purposes on the frontend, but also for doing things like modeling. It is very flexible, a lot more flexible for than Tableau for what I need.

One of the things that I appreciate is that premium features that used to cost $5,000 per company per month recently became a lot more accessible. Microsoft recently implemented a per user feature in Power BI Premium; it's $20 per month. I'm investigating in that because I think the price is good. 

I would like to be able to use more predicting data science features without having to use R. If I were able to do most of the data science that I normally do inside Power BI without using R, I would decrease my use of R and mostly use Power BI. 

I have been using Microsoft Power BI for four and a half to five years. I have been using it since they created in basically. I started using it when it was Power Pivot in Excel and as soon as they created Power BI, I started using it. 

I recommend easing into Microsoft Power BI gradually. I started by creating models and graphics in Excel first. Then, when I learned a little bit about modeling, I started moving to Power BI and working there. 

So, I recommend starting with Excel and practicing there first. Power Pivot is the app that you can use in Excel for this kind of work. Before switching to Power BI, learn about data modeling and dashboarding in Power Pivot in Excel first. 

Before switching to Microsoft Power BI, I evaluated Tableau. It's a lot cheaper to use Power BI. The cost per user in Power BI is around $10 per month, while the cost per user for Tableau is a lot more expensive. That was a deciding factor for me. 

I have used the solution for analytics which is displayed on the dashboard for my client.

The solution is easy to use.

There are some problems with the functionality of this solution. The dashboard is not very user friendly and is quite complicated. They need to make it easier for developers because they could bring key components into the dashboard. I have found using scripting language in other competitor solutions easier.

Since I am new to using this solution I am not sure what should be in a future release. I probably do not need all of the features in this current version.

I have been using the solution for a couple of months.

The stability is good. 

The solution is scalable. We have a couple of people using the solution in my organization.

I have used Qlik Sense in the past and it is more functional than this solution. I prefer Qlik Sense and I will most likely be switching soon.

The solution is easy to install and it does not take long.

I did the implementation.

As far as I am aware you do not need a license for the solution.

Comparing this solution to others such as Tableau and Microstrategy, this solution is probably better. However, I think overall Qlik Sense is best for me.

I am not going to be using the solution in the future because I prefer Qlik Sense.

I rate Microsoft BI an eight out of ten.

We use this solution to analyze financial statements from our partners.

We build dashboards to see information on a product that is offered by one of our local telcos.

The most valuable feature is shareability, where we can publish work to the cloud and share it with team members. If you want to build a dashboard then you can publish it to the cloud, and then add people. This will give them access to the dashboard where they can review it, and modify it as well.

They have a mobile option that allows you to see the dashboard from your mobile phone, rather than having to look at your laptop.

I think that they can add more types of charts because the selection on the desktop version is limited.

I would like to see an option for adding audio to the visualizations. 

They need to add support for putting emojis into the dashboards.

We have been using Power BI for the past two or three years.

In terms of stability, this product has never failed me. I have not experienced any bugs or glitches.

The scalability is good. They allow for multiple types of data sources, so if you grow your databases or you change your data sources, it's easy to add them to the tool visually.

We are a startup with four people, and everybody is using it. We are proposing it to our clients in cases where we are selling analytics because it's a good option for them.

I have not had a reason to speak with technical support, although I've looked at the community. They do have additional features that you can download from the site, as well. I have not a problem in terms of support.

I used Tableau in 2016, but I decided not to use it in this startup company because they don't have a free option. They do have a trial version, but that expires and I would have to then look for another solution.

With Microsoft BI, they have a free desktop version. 

I have also used Cognos BI before, although it was a bit complicated. This is another reason that I settled on Microsoft BI.

The installation is direct and quite easy to do. The instructions are available online and they are easy to follow.`

I completed the deployment myself.

We are using the free desktop version of this product.

Once the trial period for the BI service is over, the cost is approximately $10 USD per user, per month, so it's quite reasonable.

My advice for anybody interested in using Microsoft BI is to set up the desktop version. It's good to start off with, it's easy to learn, and they get the trial period for the BI service. Then, once they're done with the trial period, I think the licensing per month is quite affordable.

In summary, this is a good solution. It is not perfect, although if they added audio, emojis, and more types of graphs, then it would be.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Using it, I receive financial information from the financial department.

It gives us accurate data and an easy way to navigate.

I get the information I need easily, and it's easy to read.

They should add mobile access.

Stability is okay.

For me it's okay, I don't have any issues with scalability.

The decision to use Microsoft BI was made by the financial department.

I don't have any advice as I am not in a position to recommend it. I am just an end-user, I do not develop, I do not maintain it.